Minutes of the Management Committee Meeting held at Ripley Castle - Monday, July 06, 2009

Meeting opened at 7.30pm with Sir Thomas Ingilby in the Chair


Tricia Heard (TH), Graham Hyde (GH), Eric Houseman (EH), Martin Blackham (MB), Bob Skaith (BS), Chris Newton (CN), Isabel Peel (IP), Barry Gill (BG), Peter Crack (PC), Sir Thomas (SirT), Ben Drummond (BD), Roger Deakin (RD), Justin Park (JP), Anton Lodge (AL), John Barrett (JB), Tony Whitaker (TW)


Stephen Coombs (SC), Bill Kitson (BK), Ken Coad (KC)

The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 11th May were accepted as a true and accurate record.


• Juniors playing in Open Age Matches – TH doing her best to identify all U13 and U11 players who fall into this category. TH reports a few still to chase up. TH has emailed all clubs concerned – replies are arriving with copies of consent forms and letters from parents or those people approved to sign them off as being able to play. IP referred to make it the job of club Child Welfare Officers to carry out this job. More direction and guidance is required for CWOs. Guidance to be published on league web site, to clubs and to umpires. It was agreed at the meeting that no players of U11 age group should play in adult games unless passed fit to play by the appropriate people. Only Paul Ellis, Steve Walmsley, Mike Bore and Adrian Grayson are qualified to do this. It is the duty of captains and CWOs that this is enforced. IP is to develop a procedure and a form. ACTION If clubs breech this ruling then they will be in breech of rule 15.
• TW reported that Ouseburn had provided him with all the necessary documentation for their overseas player.


• TH wanted to sort out the fixture dates for 2010 in view of the Golden Oldies Festival which will take place in August with a farewell dinner on Saturday 16th August. The committee were asked to vote on two proposals, to have no league fixtures on 14th August and extend the season by one week or to play 1 league fixture on a bank holiday. The committee voted in favour of extending the season by 1 week in 2010. This change would be communicated to clubs with immediate effect meaning the 2010 season would commence on 17th April and end on 18th September. ACTION
• TH mentioned that Burnt Yates regularly use the loan scheme to “borrow” two players.
• Knaresborough Forest intends to send 2 or 3 people for coaching over the winter with a view to starting more junior sides in 2010. The League agreed to a policy of giving 50% of costs up to the value of £100. ACTION. IP also advised that funding was available through the Harrogate Development Group.
• Solly Sports once again wrote to the League asking to sponsor it. A response was required saying thank you but explaining the position with Lords International. ACTION
• Peter Bragnall from Staveley has written to nominate Eric Appleton for a Service to Sport award. SirT and Jeff Watkins have written supporting letters too.
• Sharow CC wish to enter a 3rd XI in 2010 and Studley Royal CC wish to enter a 5th XI. At present the numbers on teams in Division 8 was unknown and the entry of these two additional teams would be discussed at a future meeting. A letter was to be sent to the clubs in question informing them of this course of action. ACTION


• Balances – Current Account £5193.58 Deposit Account £3313.02
• The invoice from Lords International for 1500 balls has been paid less their £5k sponsorship.
• Insurance renewal premium had been received by Bluefin of £739.00. BS was asked to obtain additional competitive quotes.
• BS had received a spam email to his work email address via the league forwarded address.
• Vast majority of clubs had now paid all league fees
• Majority of fines have been paid to date


• There has been one evening meeting so far this season on 22nd June with 3 hearings. 2 concerned clubs playing players from a higher division. There has been 1 appeal which is pending.
• AL has written to a player about an incident of dissent.
• Goff Weatherill has resigned from the umpires rota and the disciplinary panal.


• Nothing to report


• Jeff Watkins has resigned from the position of League Umpires Secretary with immediate effect. Jeff will still umpire and all umpires appointments have been sent for the rest of the season.
• TH has taken over duties in the interim period.
• Some names as possible replacements had been mentioned
• The committee wished to minute there thanks to Jeff for his work over the years.
• Goff Weatherill has given up umpiring.
• GH is to take over as the new Umpires Secretary


• All ground reports are now available on the league web site
• Some clubs had given low ground marks recently which have been investigated and revised marks submitted.


This report was sent via email as KC was not able to attend the meeting.
Following my election as Chairman and Secretary of the Arrowselfdrive.com Nidderdale Junior Cricket League, I wish to thank the Committee for electing me at the last meeting to be the Junior League Representative on the Nidderdale League Management Committee.

Please accept my apologies for missing my first meeting, however I will be on holiday on Monday 6th July 2009.

The season so far has had some difficulties. Firstly the Ackrills website. We had meetings with them during the winter and had just finished entering all fixtures and club passwords, when I was informed that they could no longer support the website.

I am pleased to report that Ben Drummond then performed an excellent task in getting the Junior League onto the main Nidderdale League Website, in readiness for the results service to commence very soon after the season started. The Junior League must record its appreciation for the speed and helpfulness of Ben.

The first trophy of the season was won by Beckwithshaw, when they won the Under 9 Cup in its first season. The Finals day was held at Studley Royal with 8 teams participating.

The next Cup Finals, The Arthur Barrett Under 17 Cup and The Bob Mellor Under 15 Cup, will be held on 16th and 17th July respectively. There was a dispute in the Bob Mellor Cup when Birstwith played Follifoot and the match tied. The Managers did not have League Handbooks with them and so agreed to a bowl off to decide the winner. The following day Follifoot appealed against the result as the rules stated that the number of wickets lost should have decided the winner. Following the appeal I circulated all committee members, and the majority decision was that as the Managers and Umpires had agreed to the Bowl Off, the result should stand, however an appeal could be made. No appeal was made and the decision was accepted.

Trisha Bryant, the Under 13 and Under 15 Age Group Secretary resigned for private reasons. The appointment of new committee members is of concern for the 2010 season, and is an area which must be addressed.

Studley Royal Under 15’s won the ECB Yorkshire Cup, in which 180 teams entered, and now move onto the ECB National County Cup and in the next round play the Durham County Winners.

The Junior League agreed to have an end of season Presentation Night, probably in Harrogate in October.

As John Barrett is the Joe Lumb and Taveners Secretary I will not report on these matters.


• Joe Lumb side have played 3, won 1, lost 2
• Lords Taveners U11 – played 3, won 3. Final match at Alne on 12/07. A win will seal progression to the semi final stage but they may qualify anyway.
• Lords Taveners U13 – fixtures will start shortly, trials have been held at Beckwithshaw where a squad was selected.
• Efforts are being made to include all Nidderdale League clubs.
• JB offered his thanks to BD for the League web site.


• Evening League going well
• Cup finals this week
• Cup competition has gone reasonably well however some correspondence with Northallerton Wolves over their involvement in the Peter Bentley Cup Final. This date clashes with another cup final that the club are involved in but after discussions they will fulfil the fixture. It was noted that problems in cup competitions was almost entirely due to clubs whose first XIs do not play in the Nidderdale League.
• The new rule on returning trophies has had no effect. Fines should therefore be imposed.
• A rule change needs to be flagged around engraving of trophies. If clubs do not return them engraved then clubs will be invoiced for the cost of the engraving plus a £10 admin fee. ACTION
• Pannal CC have said they will provide food before the Peter Bentley Cup Final.


The next season of the Indoor six-a-side competition will begin on Saturday 19th September and invitations have been sent out on 21st June to 61 clubs. Although a ‘confirmation of receipt request’ was made, so far only 35 clubs have had the courtesy to respond. A notice has been placed on the League Web-site prompting all clubs to check their mail. Two clubs, Ouseburn and Bilton, have already submitted their entry forms, four weeks earlier than the deadline.

Ripon Grammar School has yet to confirm if we will be able to use their sports facilities as a second venue, although meetings have been taking place. If confirmation is not positive, then we will play abridged leagues at Pateley Bridge as we have for the past two years.

Rod Ford is currently trying to negotiate a sponsor-ship deal for junior cricket balls for his work with the youngsters and has kindly offered to include the Indoor League in the quantity required. If this is not possible he is optimistic of a reduced cost on the purchase price. Last year’s balls, which he supplied, were a great improvement on those previously purchased.

It is envisaged that the fixtures will be available by mid August.


• Training is to be arranged for club CWOs.
• YCB have added details of courses to their web site which IP will investigate and facilitate. Time to Listen and Good Practice Workshop.
• It was noted that clubs should send at least one member to the training
• Dates are to be confirmed but SirT offered Ripley Castle as a potential venue.
• JP had notification from Harrogate Grammar School that at least one person needs to be CRB checked when stepping onto school premises for coaching/netting.
• It was also noted that if someone is a member of more than one club, a CRB form is required for each club.


• No games have been played yet
• Dales Council have conceded after several attempts to play the fixture
• The game in the Leeds Area Comp was conceded as a team could not be raised. Players were being told they were playing at very short notice.
• The next game should be played by 12/07
• TH is to speak to DW
• EH offered Alec Houseman as a potential alternative Team Manager.
• JB suggested that the League should contact the Huddersfield League to offer apologies and compensation as a result of the conceded fixture at late notice.
• JB suggested that the League fulfils fixtures with players from the Joe Lumb side.


A good meeting was reported with representation from Air New Zealand, Lords International and Gullivers Sports Travel in attendance.
Lords International signed an official merchandising agreement
33 teams are booked and confirmed
One team has been in contact from the USA
All taking shape nicely
York University samba band have been booked to lead the parade
A brass band is required for the indoor evening event.
There are currently more grounds than teams so far
Games will be played on Monday, Wednesday and Friday


Devon Malcolm and comedian are booked and confirmed
Dinner will be two weeks earlier than usual which means CN will be on holiday in the run up to the event so will be unable to coordinate tickets and final numbers
JP offered his help with this


BG – The Atkinson Swires runners up trophy has surfaced and BG is to investigate a plinth and engraving.


Monday 17th August 2009

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